Elvis and the Underdogs

In Elvis and the Underdogs, 10-year-old Benji is small for his age. He was born prematurely and continues to have health issues including a new one: seizures. Benji has the choice to either wear a protective helmet, which will only be fodder for the class bully, or get a service dog. Guess which one Benji chose!

Want to check it out? Email us at cedir@indiana.edu or use worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Libby and the Cape of Visitability

In Libby and the Cape of Visitability, Libby, who uses a wheelchair, doesn't get invited to a friend's house for a birthday party, and her feelings are hurt. The friends then meet an athlete who uses a wheelchair and learns about the disability rights movement. They are shown a picture of a public protest where wheelchair users block inaccessible buses. This spurs the kids to stage their own public demonstration toward the goal of step-free entrances to new homes and wider bathroom doors to ensure that all newly constructed homes are "visitable" by everyone!

Want to check it out? Email us at cedir@indiana.edu or use worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Mobile App Monday - Dollar Up

"Looking for an app to teach or reinforce how to use money in real life situations? Dollar Up is the perfect app for children learning to handle money, kids, teens and adults with developmental disabilities as well as for therapists who work with stroke survivors, those in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, and more." -iTunes

Learn more about this app at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dollar-up-money-learning-aid/id721334863?mt=8

About Special Kids offers training in B-town on the 30th

On April 30th, About Special Kids (ASK) will offer a training, Roadmap to Special Education:  Laws and Process, scheduled in Bloomington. This training, combining the Article 7 and IEP training, is an all day training that offers basic information about special education laws and regulations for Indiana children ages 3-21. In addition, this training provides information on how to prepare for a case conference and write an IEP. This training is a great opportunity for family members and professionals who advocate for children with a disability or serious chronic illness.

For more information and to register for the training, visit: http://www.aboutspecialkids.org/Training.aspx

New Support Group for Parents of Children with Allergies

Bloomington, Ind. – Bloomington’s new support group for Parents of Children Having Allergies (PoCHA) has several events scheduled for Food Allergy Awareness Week, May 11-17.  One of these events includes a booth at the Bloomington Farmer’s Market on Saturday, May 17, where parents can learn about Bloomington PoCHA and its programs. Group meetings will be held the first Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. at Sherwood Oaks Christian Church, 2700 E. Rogers Rd.

The next meeting of Bloomington PoCHA will be Tuesday, May 6 at 7 p.m. A local Auvi-Q representative will give a presentation on the newest version of the epinephrine pen. Auvi-Q, an epinephrine injection, is used to treat life-threatening allergic reactions (known as anaphylaxis) in people who are at risk for, or have a history of, these reactions.

The mission of Bloomington PoCHA is to provide the community with support and education for parents of children with allergies. A food allergy is a serious medical condition that affects up to 15 million people in the United States, including 1 in 13 children. Families of children with food allergies are often diagnosed after an allergic reaction. Although there is much research being done, there is no cure for food allergies at this time. Food allergens are everywhere, from potting soil to the foods we eat. The eight major food allergies are peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, wheat, soy, fish and shellfish. Because avoidance is the best way to prevent an allergic reaction, education is vitally important for the families, friends, caregivers and children facing food allergies. Bloomington PoCHA is working to educate the community on ways to keep our children safe, especially in circumstances where the children are in educational settings, daycares and other places where children congregate. When a child does come into contact with his or her allergen(s), there is a possibility that the reaction can become anaphylactic and life-threatening. Emergency care is needed and lifesaving medication called epinephrine must be administered immediately.

Bloomington PoCHA will also have a team participating in the Food Allergy Walk on Saturday, Aug. 23, in Indianapolis. Visit the Food Allergy Walk website at http://www.foodallergywalk.org/ to register for the walk or make donations to Team Bloomington PoCHA.

For more information about the support group, please contact Bloomington PoCHA at bloomingtonpocha@comcast.net.  

School made easier: A kid's guide to study strategies and anxiety-busting tools

School Made Easier focuses on how to manage both academic stress and the emotions that might interfere with academic success. This book offers teenage students ways to reduce their anxiety, increase their confidence in school, and study more effectively. Strategies such as learning positive self-talk, setting up the proper study environment, and becoming one's own study coach are designed to be fun and easy to learn.

Want to check it out? Email us at cedir@indiana.edu or use worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Commission on Aging Offers Fourth Annual Creative Aging Festival

Bloomington, Ind. – In celebration of Older Americans Month in May, the City of Bloomington Commission on Aging invites the community to celebrate creativity and our aging population. Since Bloomington is known as both an arts and retirement destination, the Commission seeks to enhance these two attributes through offering the Fourth Annual Creative Aging Festival in May.

The primary objectives of the Creative Aging Festival are to highlight the artistic talents of older adults; promote intergenerational understanding through dialogue, sharing traditions, and storytelling and increase awareness about the value of creative engagement to adult health and well-being.  

The Commission has developed an online Creative Aging Festival Program Guide, which will feature creative aging events and exhibits in May.  Printed guides will be distributed to arts and aging venues in the area. The Creative Aging Festival program guide can be viewed online at www.bloomington.in.gov/coa.

The Commission on Aging meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall Hooker Conference Room, Suite 245, 401 N. Morton St.  All commission meetings are open to the public and minutes from meetings can be found on the City of Bloomington website at www.bloomington.in.gov/coa.

For additional information, contact Program Specialist Sue Owens at owenss@bloomington.in.gov or 812-349-3468.

Mobile App Monday - Fun with Verbs & Sentences

This app is developed for language ages 2-5 with eye-popping color drawings and 266 delightful animations--a cutting-edge way to show and teach action words! It provides a fun way to visually show left to right sentence building (early literacy concepts) and sequence the parts of a sentence in the right order.

Want to learn more about it? Please visit: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fun-with-verbs-sentences-hd/id713921450?mt=8

Help with IEPs

Have you heard about the Indiana IEP Resource Center (IEPRC)? Affiliated with Indiana State University at the Blumberg Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Special Education, the IEPRC creates resource materials and professional development opportunities to improve the IEP process in schools. Their goal is to increase educators' skills to ensure case conference committees meet the individual needs of students with disabilities.

Want to learn more about them? Please visit their website at: http://www.indianaieprc.org

Online Summer Reading Skills Program

This summer, the folks at the Community Learning Network at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) are offering reading skills and speed reading programs for preschoolers through 10th graders. These individualized programs include online instruction, independent reading and support from a reading teacher. The program design and instruction are provided by the Institute of Reading Development.

Interested? Call 800-964-9974 for more information or to register.

Curricula for teaching children and young people with severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties

Book description:
Curricula for Teaching Children and Young People with Severe or Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties offers a range of compelling arguments for a distinct and separate pedagogical approach to the learning needs of the most educationally challenging pupils. This book, written in accessible, common sense and non-academic language, provides an easy-to-follow alternative curriculum specifically designed to enhance and enrich the learning of children with profound and multiple learning difficulties.

Want to check it out? Email us at cedir@indiana.edu or use worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

What really works in special and inclusive education

Book description, What Really Works in Special and Inclusive Education:
In this new second edition, David Mitchell, a leading writer in special and inclusive education, continues to break new ground with revised and updated strategies based on evidence from the most recent studies in the field. From the myriad of related research available, only those studies with genuine potential for improving the practices of teachers and schools have been included, with the aim of facilitating high-quality learning and social outcomes for all learners in schools.

Want to check it out? Email us at cedir@indiana.edu or use worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Mobile App Monday - Learning Patterns

Learning Patterns is an exciting interactive game that helps your child learn how to recognize and complete patterns all with just the touch of a finger. Pattern recognition and completion represents an important developmental skill for kids of all ages.

Interested? Please visit: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/learning-patterns-help-kids/id717236674?mt=8

A watch for people with blindness

"The Bradley Timepiece, a watch designed for blind people and named after a Paralympian gold medallist who lost his sight in Afghanistan, is up for design of the year at London's Design Museum."

So begins an article found online at BBC News Magazine. This watch is amazing in its simple design that is so similar to other timepieces worn by those who have sight. Two ball bearings are used; one to indicate hours and one to indicate minutes.

To read the entire story, please visit: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26920782

The Occupational Therapist's Handbook for Inclusive School Practices

Book Description for The Occupational Therapist's Handbook for Inclusive School Practices:
A great occupational therapist is a key success factor in your inclusive school's are on the front lines every day, making critical decisions that help students access the curriculum and fully participate. This is the friendly, down-to-earth survival guide OTs need to deliver their important services effectively as part of an inclusive school team. Packed with practical guidance and tips, examples that relate directly to an OT's daily practice, and first-person insights from seasoned OTs, this guidebook is key to helping students develop new skills in key areas, from motor skills and mobility to academic achievement and friendships.

Want to check it out? Email us at cedir@indiana.edu or use worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Allies for inclusion: Disability and equity in higher education

Allies for Inclusion looks into the future of disability education. How will students create their own identities? Will there be a need for disability accommodations or will a universally designed world eliminate that current necessity? It also looks at the past, with discussions of disability legislation such as the ADA of 1990, the impact of Supreme Court decisions, descriptions of college students with disabilities, and the paradigm shift from the medical “deficit” model of disability to one that focuses on the individual’s lived experience as a social construct.

Want to take a closer look? Email us at cedir@indiana.edu to check out this title or use worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Disability rights and wrongs revisited

The new edition of Disability Rights and Wrongs is updated throughout, reflecting the author’s most recent thinking, drawing on current research, and responding to controversies surrounding the first edition and the World Report on Disability, as well as incorporating new chapters on cultural disability studies, personal assistance, sexuality, and violence. This book challenges disability studies orthodoxy, promoting a new conceptualization of disability and fresh research agenda.

Interested? Email us at cedir@indiana.edu to check it out or use worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Introductory Statistics using SPSS

Introductory Statistics Using SPSS shows readers how to properly select, process, and interpret statistics without heavy emphasis on theory, formula derivations, or abstract mathematical concepts. Each chapter is structured to answer questions that readers most want answered, including: how to choose the appropriate test for each situation, how to set up the data, how to run the test, and how to interpret and document the results.

Want to check it out? Email us at cedir@indiana.edu or use worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Mobile App Monday - Writing Prompts for Kids

Got a student who is having difficulty with writing skills? Boost their skills with writing prompts that will spark their imaginations. This writing prompt generator is quick and easy to use; your students will have an inspiring writing topic in seconds. Just tap the screen to pick a situation, a character, a setting, and an object.

Want to learn more about it? Please visit: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/writing-prompts-for-kids/id533233202?mt=8

Presenting Data Effectively

Book description:
Focusing on the guiding principles of presenting data in evidence-based ways so that audiences are effectively engaged and researchers are better understood, Presenting Data Effectively offers the best communication strategies available to those working with data. With this accessible step-by-step guide, anyone—from students developing a research poster for a school project to faculty and researchers presenting data at a conference—can learn how to present and communicate their research findings in more interesting and effective ways.

Email us at cedir@indiana.edu to check out this title or use worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Mathematics, the common core, and RTI

Mathematics, the Common Core, & RTI offers insight into the central elements of RTI and the common core where math is concerned. This book provides:

• Real-world scenarios
• Classroom-ready work samples
• Content-area applications
• Recommended online resources
• Guidance on special-needs students, behavioral issues, ELLs, and parent involvement

Want to check it out? Email us at cedir@indiana.edu or use worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Modifying Schoolwork

Looking for a practical, ready-to-use guide on teaching all students? Modifying Schoolwork is now in its third edition and offers a clear and concrete plan for K-12 inclusion. Find strategies, case studies, and planning tools in this hands-on guide that will help teachers deliver effective universal instruction.

Interested? Email us at cedir@indiana.edu to check out this title. Or use worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

What's New?

Well March certainly did come in like a lion with a winter storm and out like a lamb with a beautiful spring day! I'm looking forward to those April showers bringing May flowers. But before we really get ahead of ourselves, let's take a look back at the new items that came in the library last month. The subjects really ran the gamut from materials on early intervention to research to social skills. Here's where you can find the complete list:
http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/index.php?pageId=2317